20 apparent crimes on Google Street View

Those with the eyes of a legal eagle at a criminal justice Web site called The Blotter, have collected some of the most everyday crimes that appear to have been captured by Google Street View. It makes for strangely mesmerizing viewing.

There are days when the mind is sluggish and the body votes for the Recalcitrant Party.

So I am grateful to Technically Incorrect reader John Wesley, who chose to point the parts of my eyes that might function today to a Web site called the Blotter.

Whoever is behind this criminally committed blog took it upon themselves, for reasons unbeknown to me, to scour Google Street View for crimes, misdemeanors, and simply strange, strange occurrences.

My first instinct was that these were entirely concocted images, made to amuse rather than amaze. Oh, me of little faith.

What has Google caught you doing today?
CC Rojer/Flickr

I have tried to locate as many of the addresses as are readable from the site. And while Google may have removed some of the more obviously egregious ones (I could not find the man appearing to climb toward a second-floor apartment in San Francisco, for example), some are still there.

The sword-wielding samurai from Pittsburgh, for example.

And the ladies of the day in Paris. How can I possibly assume these are ladies of the day? Well, they're standing by the curb in what looks like the middle of the afternoon and one is wearing, oh, please check it out for yourselves and decide.

The Blotter seems to have captured children smoking in Bristol, England, and even a couple of cases of apparent assault, drug dealing, and general lewd happenings--although one could question whether a Frenchman carrying an inflatable doll down the streets of Paris could really be classified as lewd.